


Off the Record

by cjoff



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 21:26:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14578002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjoff/pseuds/cjoff
Summary: "Most people know this but Tessa and I do not have a romantic off-ice relationship."Scott says it with conviction, but there'd been no question asked, no reason for the statement. He says it like it was something he wanted to make sure to remember to say."I've heard you say that  before. But that's not the interesting question, as far as I'm concerned."Scott looks up.  "What's the interesting question, then?"The interviewer smiles. "Are you in love with her?"





	Off the Record

**Author's Note:**

> Just a drabble that I can't get out of my head. What if an interview went off the record?
> 
> Also, they have ruined my life. :)

"Most people know this but Tessa and I do not have a romantic off-ice relationship."

Scott says it with conviction, but there'd been no question asked, no reason for the statement. He says it like it was something he wanted to make sure to remember to say.

"I've heard you say that before. But that's not the interesting question, as far as I'm concerned."

Scott looks up. "What's the interesting question, then?"

The interviewer smiles. "Are you in love with her?"

Scott looks pointedly at the tape recorder on the table between them, raises his eyebrows, and shakes his head. The interviewer reaches over, and presses "stop."

"Off the record, then. Are you in love with her?"

"I just told you, it's not like that." 

"That doesn't answer the question. Look, I wasn't going to ask you about this at all. Frankly, the prurient nature of this obsession with your relationship makes me a little queasy. But you volunteered, and that interests me. So. Are you in love with her?"

"It's complicated."

"It's not complicated. It's binary. You love her or you don't."

"Oh, I love her. I've loved her since I was nine years old. But 'in love?' That's a whole different question."

"You want her?"

"Of course, I want her. People in space know that I want her. Everyone who's ever seen me look at her knows that I want her. But..."

He stops. Lookes out the window. Sighs.

"She's my best friend. She's been my best friend for...70% of my life. Think about that for a minute. I'm 30 years old, and she's been my best friend for 21 of those years. And skating with her is as close to heaven as I'm ever going to find. How can I risk that? If we screwed that up...if we screwed that up...I just...I couldn't...

"I couldn't make it without her."

"Why are you so sure that it wouldn't work?"

"Oh, I'm not at all sure that it wouldn't. It might. She thinks that it would, if we just...if we could get away from the circus, stay in our bubble. She thinks that we'd be fine. 3 green-eyed kids, townhouse in London, close to the rink. Or maybe Montreal. We would coach, be the next Patch and Marie-France, take some juniors to worlds, Stars on Ice every summer. It's an amazing dream. It's what I think about at night, when I can't sleep."

"But?"

"But what if it's not real? What if I love her, and I want her, and I'm not in love with her? What if it all falls apart? Do you know how many pairs and dance couples 'fall in love' and later find out that it was just a byproduct of what they created on the ice? That it was...an illusion? Jamie and David. Ilia and Katia. And about a dozen more that you don't even know were ever together. It's like actors who fall in love on set. You pretend to be in love, and then you think you actually are...but it's rarely real, and when it is, it rarely lasts. And if it's not real, and we screw up the friendship, if we couldn't skate anymore...it think it might actually kill me.

"So it's complicated."

"Yeah."

"But, Scott...she's worth the risk. Have you ever looked at the way she looks at you? You find someone who looks at you like that...you hang on forever. You take the risk. Make the leap. Have those babies. Buy that townhouse."

"I know. That's the play."

"But."

"But."

Scott reaches across the table and presses record, a clear signal that the conversation is over.

"I just told you, it's not like that." 

"Fair enough." They look at each other, and nod in understanding. 

"Can we talk a little more about what you got from the team at B2Ten?"

The interview continues for another half hour. When it's over, they shake hands, then shrug, laugh and hug instead. "I meant what I said, Scott. Listen to her. She's wise."

Scott smiles, nods, and then goes home and cooks dinner for a pretty girl with gorgeous green eyes. 

And dreams.


End file.
